The World Crashes Around Me, But I Will Never Fall
by PassionateFury
Summary: After the Last Stand, the world is peaceful for the time being. But not all of the problems are gone. Bobby, Rouge, and Kitty become surrounded with conflict. Rated T for later chapters.
1. Prologue

Prologue

"Bobby, I'm sorry." Rogue didn't want to meet his eyes. She felt ashamed. But life would be so much better now. She was cured.

"This isn't what I wanted." Bobby felt his emotions flooding into him. He was so sad. Why did she want to do this? He thought his heart might break. The woman he trusted and loved wanted to be different than him. He knew she wanted to be closer to him, but he was hurt.

Rogue drew up confidence. "It's what I wanted." He had to understand. She made a good choice. Maybe he would se her point of view better if he touched her.

Bobby looked down and saw her uncover her bare hand. Though his frustration was great, excitement filled his heart at the thought of touching Rogue without getting hurt. He slowly raised his hand to hers. He couldn't believe this was happening. He had wanted this for so long. As these thoughts of wish fulfillment filled Bobby's mind, he instantly forgot his sorrows.

Their hands slipped together. Bobby went tense waiting for his veins and pains to show up any second. A few moments passed and when nothing happened he looked up into Rogue's eyes. He was speechless. Joy flooded his body. He uncontrollably pulled her into a strong deep hug.

Rogue melted into him. She felt his arms all around her. She rubbed her cheek on his. She couldn't believe this was finally happening. This was her heart's deepest desire. This was what she wanted from the day she got her gift. In her Arousal, she kissed him, and then continued squeezing him.

As this moment continued for what seemed forever, Bobby remembered why he was so mad before. Rogue's skin felt so sweet and her touch so soft, but her fervent passion was empty. Her amazing power of stealing others', although annoying and restricting, symbolized her burning devotion toward the X-men. But now she had taken the easy way out. No more adventure. She decided to change who she was, to through her gift away forever.

Mixed tears began to run down Bobby's face. This was too much for him to think about right now. He decided to continue holding on to her. She did all of this for him any way. Even though she was a woman, her mind could sometimes be focused on only one thing.

They just stood there, hugging without a word. They never had done this before and couldn't think of anything to say. Rogue had the best time in her life.

After a few hours, Bobby finally left the room. He headed strait for his own room to lie down and contemplate things for a while. He was so confused and didn't know what to think. As he walked with his head pointing down, he noticed someone standing very close to the wall. He looked back to find an empty hallway. Shrugging, he continued the walk to his room.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One 

The next morning, Rogue danced out of her room. She felt so good to be normal again. But as she walked through the building, none of the other kids looked at her, as though avoiding her. Slowly, her anxiety was returning to her. Rouge made her way toward the kitchen. Inside, Katherine and another girl started walking out.

"So, he died just by running into a wall?" the other girl asked laughing.

"He broke through so many other walls before, but without his power, he just cracked his neck." Kitty giggled in her shy way. Although she wasn't the most assertive person, she had a strong will; she could be forceful when she needed to be. Kitty looked up and saw Rogue. She waved goodbye to her friend. "See you later. Oh, hi Rogue," she said with a smile. After their victory against Magneto, she always seemed to be happy.

"It's Marie," Rogue said.

"You…. you…. you took the cure?" Kitty asked, her face becoming more serious.

Rogue didn't respond. She was embarrassed.

Kitty broke an uncomfortable silence. "Did you tell Bobby?"

"Bobby knows. It might take him a while to get over it though." Then she smiled and said, "We had some catching up to do first."

Suddenly, Kitty became very solemn. "You guys didn't….um…."

"What?" Rogue noticed Kitty was becoming very nervous.

"Never mind, I'll see you later Rou… um Maria." Rogue waved her off. Kitty quickly went past trying to hide her face. She walked down the hall and approached her room. She took a deep breath and willed her particles to avoid others as she phased through the door, fell on her bed, and sighed. She could usually control her feelings.

But the longer she laid down the more tense she got. She didn't want to think of Rogue and Bobby kissing. The truth was, Kitty secretly liked Bobby. After becoming a mutant, her life could be so chaotic. She felt very different than others all the time. She had friends, but none of them very close. Many felt they couldn't trust her because of her gift. Everything around her was changing. Her parents looked down on her. Xavier, her biggest father figure, was dead. But through all of the destruction around her, Bobby shined a beacon of hope through her heart. He was a few years older than her, and sometimes she felt like a little girl thinking about him; but he made her feel so happy in her times of pain, he was solid ground when she was unsure of herself, he was such a good surface to fall back on, and though they didn't know each other very well, he was her closest friend.

So many things were trying to pull her down; and sometimes it was so hard to keep standing strong. But standing strong was what she did best. Her entire life was hard and confusing, but she always kept her cool and did the right thing. She would never give up. She wasn't a quitter. Unlike Rouge, she thought to her self. Rouge decided to take the easy way out of her troubles, changing who she was, and she still had Bobby. It wasn't fair. Kitty had stayed with Bobby, even when Rogue wouldn't, even when it was so tempting to go the easy way. Now she was still where she had been before. Others still feared and hated her because she was different, Xavier was still dead, and she still didn't have a shoulder to cry on when she felt overwhelmed. But Rogue, a quitter, was respected by the world for being normal, was unfairly beautiful, and still had Bobby. Rogue was so lucky, everything so perfect for her.

Kitty felt a couple of warm tears roll down her cheeks. She cried for the injustice in her life. All the pressure held in throughout her life burst out of her. She wanted Bobby. But everyone still believed he should be with Rogue. Bobby probably didn't even like her, she was just a little girl.

Kitty, still lacking a supporting shoulder to cry on, curled up in a ball, squeezed her pillow, and cried into it.

A few minutes passed and Kitty's crying slowed. She had tolerated all of the misfortunes throughout her life. She would just have to get over this, just as she had done everything else. She sniffled and tried to settle a little. She hated being so lonely though.

Another tear fell out of her eye when she heard a nock at the door and a voice outside say "Kitty?"

It was Bobby.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Bobby entered the room without permission like he usually did. Kitty quickly rubbed the tears away from her face as best she could with her pillow. She wished he wouldn't have barged in, but she liked the idea that he was close enough to her to do that. She tried her best to straiten her face as she sat up and saw him coming forward.

"Hey Kitty." He walked closer.

"Hi Bobby"

Bobby went up and sat next to Kitty on the bed, "I didn't see you at Professor Login's class."

"Yeah, I was pretty tired today." She tried her best not to be obvious, but didn't want to meet his eyes. "I'm rested up now though. Why did you come?"

"Well," Bobby said starting to look a little awkward, "I was wanting some advise from you." He raised his hand to his head and scratched his neck for a few seconds. "It's about Rogue. I'm kind of confused right now."

Kitty was surprised to find Bobby like this. He usually wasn't embarrassed about anything. "Is it about the cure?"

"Well yeah, I just… I just wish she wouldn't have taken it; that's all. Don't get me wrong, I love her, but it's getting hard to trust her." Kitty put her hand on his shoulder.

"I think she just wants to be closer to you."

"We have always been close though. I have always supported her." Bobby looked at the floor. "It's hard to support her now, because she doesn't stand for anything. I don't understand why she wanted to through away her gift."

"Well maybe her power wasn't so great," Kitty tried to sound optimistic. "You guys can touch each other now right?"

"Yeah, I love being able to finally hug and kiss…" Bobby looked at her "What's wrong Kitty?"

Kitty noticed that her lip was shaking. "What do you mean?"

"Your eyes are all red, and you look miserable."

"I… well… sometimes I wish I had someone to hug and kiss," she said softly; her voice was shaking uncontrollably, "I… No one has ever r-really trusted me, just because of who I am." She noticed that she must have been acting really stupid and looked away.

Bobby reached out, touched her cheek, and moved her head to face his again. "I trust you." He smiled at an attempt to cheer her up. "Here I am trying to get help from you, when you are suffering as much as I am."

"I'm ok."

"Kitty?"

"Yes?"

"Tonight, lets go down to the fountain again. We can talk to each other about everything that is happening in our lives. Won't you come?"

"I'd love to."

"I'llstop by later then," Bobby said. He stood, pulled her on her feet, and hugged her.

After Bobby closed the door, Kitty fell back on her bed as an uncontrollable smile escaped her face. Maybe Bobby should stay with Rogue, maybe he would never love her, but he was such a great friend. If they could talk and hug, well, that would just have to be ok. And maybe, just maybe, someday she would be with him.

Kitty wondered how long the peace between mutants and humans would last. She knew that conflict would eventually arise, but being close to Bobby would make things so much easier. She couldn't wait for their time at the fountain tonight.


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

"So now that you took the cure, you aren't really a mutant anymore, right?"

"Well, I guess you could say that."

"Then why are you allowed to go to an only mutant school?"

This was the last thing Rogue wanted to talk to anyone about. If this wasn't a young child, she would have just walked away. Even though this was a kid, she couldn't think of an answer. It was annoying her. She thought for a while. "Because I don't have anywhere else to go. And…" She hesitated for a moment, and then was relieved to see a distraction come her way. "Hey Bobby!" He walked over "Where have you been?" Rogue said.

"I was just talking to a friend."

"Storm is having a lecture on World War II or something."

"Well, let's head over then." Bobby replied. He slipped his hand in hers. As they walked down the hall, Rogue was relieved to be away from all the questions the kids were asking her. She hated being under pressure like that. They rounded a corner, went a little further, and approached the door to Storm's classroom when they walked next to Kitty.

"Hey Kitty, I see you're feeling better now." Bobby said.

"Yeah, a little." Kitty said. Rogue noticed her eyes were a little red. She wasn't like that this morning, Rogue thought, so something must have happened during Logan's class.

Kitty turned her gaze. "Hi Rogue, how's it going?"

"Oh, pretty goo…" Rogue stopped her reply because she noticed that Kitty wasn't looking at her. She wasn't looking at Bobby either. Who was she looking at? Rogue gazed behind her to find an empty hall. Then it hit her. Kitty was looking at Bobby's hand in hers.

"I'm sorry I forgot to call you Marie." Kitty said. She thought Rogue was offended and that was why she looked around.

"What?" Rogue started, "Oh, I guess you can call me Rogue if you like. I stopped talking just because I noticed that… well… well, never mind. Let's get to the lecture before we're late."

Bobby held open the door for Rogue. She walked through and saw Kitty phase through the wall next to her. Rogue couldn't help but think that Kitty was trying to show off. Bobby chuckled and gave her a high five on the other side. Rogue suddenly became suspicious.

Kitty giggled, noticed Bobby was still looking at her, and decided to phase through her chair too. As she walked up, she felt something was wrong. She tripped on her chair and fell on the table. The table came crashing down with everything on top of it. The next second, Kitty found herself on her butt, drinks all over the floor and a lot of people laughing at her.

Storm, in a startled state, jumped around. "Katherine?" She had such a serious face.

"I'm sorry Storm. I don't understand, I was supposed to phase through the chair…" Storms worried expression quickly turned into an amused one like everyone else's. She smiled and pointed down the room. Kitty turned around and saw that Leech was in the chair next to hers.

"Are you ok Kitty?" Leech asked.

"Oh, I'm fine." Kitty found the rest of her face becoming red in embarrassment.

Most of the people in the classroom hurried to help Kitty clean everything up. After a few minutes, Storm went to the front of the room. "Alright, let's start. Who can tell me what date the Axis powers were stopped?" Kitty usually liked to be involved in all of her classes, but today, she was a little dizzy from her embarrassing moment. She sat back and took a deep breath. She looked over at Bobby. She noticed that he was grasping Rogue's hand again. Kitty felt jealousy blazing through her body. Maybe it wouldn't be so easy to accept Bobby staying with her.

Kitty started thinking to herself. She was completely tuned out of the lecture that was taking place around her. Her mind filled with happy memories. She remembered when Bobby's hand was wrapped around hers instead. Every time he felt sorry for her: during Xavier's funeral, the time they ice skated on the fountain's pond, during their stand against Magneto…

On the other side of the room, Rogue felt very content. She listened to Storm go on about army tactics and logic. She was holding Bobby's hand, happy and still a little surprised to be touching his skin. And then she noticed something. Kitty was looking strait at her clenching Bobby's hand again. She had wondered if Kitty liked him before, but now she was sure. The very thought of Bobby leaving her for Kitty gave her a chill. Rogue decided to lean on Bobby and put her head on his shoulder.

Kitty looked away, feeling hot envy eat at her soul. She realized that she was missing the whole lecture, so decided to start listening.

"Most of the leaders were killed," Storm's words came clear, "But why, do you suppose, the Nazi movement went from almost controlling the whole world, to becoming unpopular and almost dormant within weeks, even to German citizens? Anyone?" Leech raised his hand. "Jimmy?"

"Maybe deep down inside, they knew what they were doing was wrong." Leech said.

"Very good Jimmy. As Professor Xavier used to say, 'Mankind is not evil, just uninformed.' You have to realize, before World War II, the poor and starving people of Germany were suffering from the Great Depression and their war dept from World War I. They grabbed hold of the first sign of hope there was."

"But there are still Nazi groups today," a kid said.

"Yes, there will never be complete peace. Small groups of lost causes will occasionally come in conflict." Storm continued, "But we must strive for peace as X-men and as people in our world. Most people are ignorant, so it is up to a few to take a stand and maintain balance."

Kitty looked over to find Rogue still leaning on Bobby. She tried to look away, but it would not leave her mind. Kitty looked in the opposite direction at Leech. She wondered what life must be like for him: humans wanting to keep him making the cure all the time. But at the school, he was safe.

After the lecture ended Kitty turned to Leech and asked him, "Are you happy that you're here?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, now that you're here, some people hate you for not making the cure any more. But if you did, some mutants would hate you for making it. You're forced to take one side or the other. Are you happy to be here?"

"Yeah, I think I shou—"

"They aren't making any more cure?" Rogue interrupted.

Kitty responded, "they still can't generate it, only repli—"

"How could you do that? What about the mutants that still want it?" Rogue persisted.

Bobby noticed the tension arising. He tried to pull Rogue away. "Come on."

"No! Jimmy, why aren't you helping to cure mutants? Just because you want—"

"What did you just say!" Storm cut in. She was furious. The air in the room began to create a small wind. Her hair was starting to lift. They could hear lightning and thunder outside. "Mutation is not a disease! How dare you talk to Jimmy like that!"

"Some mutants do have something wrong with—"

"There is only one person here who has something wrong with them, and it's you! Get out of my classroom!" Storms eyes were turning white and her face became strained.

Rogue suddenly looked afraid. She stormed out of the room with Bobby at her heals. Kitty was nervous. The only other time she had seen Storm so angry was in battle. Leech didn't look very comfortable either. Storm put her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry if I scared you…"

"I'm ok."

"Nobody is going to make you pump out that damn cure," Storm said with such passion, "I won't let anyone make you. I promise." She was calming down now.

"Well, I'll see you both tomorrow at two o'clock." Storm walked out of the room in a flustered state.

"You really shouldn't mind Rogue, or should I say Miss Marie." Kitty said, "I really don't under stand her though."

"Everyone has their own views." Leech replied. He paused and added, "I see everybody the same."

"Well Jimmy, I don't have your gift," Kitty said with a smile, "See you tomorrow."

"Bye."

Kitty walked out of the room last and headed for her own. As she went down the hall, she heard a voice through Rogue's door. Her curiosity got the better of her and she listened in. "You think they shouldn't make anymore of the cure?" "I think mutants should be proud of what they are." "You aren't proud of me? You would like me better if I were a mutant?" "Well actually, I, well…" "I can't believe you Bobby! You don't love me for who I am!" "I do love you, you're a mutant though." "No… Bobby, just go." "Rogue, you need to get some sleep." "My name is Marie!" "Ok… Marie, I'll… I'll see you tomorrow."

Kitty heard footsteps coming towards the door. She had to hide somewhere quick.

The next thing she knew, the door started opening; she quickly phased through the wall so he wouldn't see her. After the door closed, Kitty's stomach churned as she realized that she was in Rogue's room. To her luck, Rogue didn't see her. Her face was buried in her pillows, crying deeply. As quietly as she could, Kitty phased through the wall again and continued walking towared her room.

Kitty couldn't get over her stomach pains. She felt sorry for Rogue, but was discussed with her at the same time. As Kitty walked around the hall, she wondered if Bobby would still go to the fountain with her tonight. She reached her door, took a deep breath, and phased through it again.

After she went inside her room, she was surprised to find Bobby sitting on her bed.

"Bobby?"

"Ready to go to the fountain?" Bobby looked miserable.

"Um, ok." She walked closer. "Hey, you don't look to good Bobby."

"I don't feel very good." He gave a weak smile. "Alright, lets head towards the stairs then." He stood up and held out his hand for her to hold.

"Who needs to use stairs?" Kitty said smiling. She walked up to him, wrapped her arms around him, and willed their particles to avoid the atoms making the floor as they fell through the ceiling of the first floor. When they hit ground, Kitty grabbed onto his arm and they walked on.

Feelings of guilt filled Kitty when she thought about Rogue crying just above them, but she couldn't help but lay her head on his shoulder as they walked through another wall and toward the fountain.


End file.
